First mobile army shelter as part of $60-million contract rolls off Poco assembly line

Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun08.16.2012

Ray Castelli, CEO of Weatherhaven, a Burnaby company that produces state-of-the-art shelters primarily for the military that can be used in extreme conditions for such things as field kitchens, command centres, hospitals at his Burnaby plant on Tuesday, November 7, 2010. They built the main Canadian base in Afghanistan and recently got a $60-military contract to build several hundred container-type shelters that can be attached to military trucks in Afghanistan.Les Baszo
/ PNG Files

The federal government is set to launch a $60 million defence procurement to build shelters in Port Coquitlam for Canadian troops abroad. At 10 a.m, James Moore, the federal government's minister for British Columbia, will tour Wesgar-Weatherhaven, a company which makes portable units that will eventually become "pop up cities" for Canadian forces.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Ray Castelli, CEO of Weatherhaven, a Burnaby company that produces state-of-the-art shelters primarily for the military that can be used in extreme conditions for such things as field kitchens, command centres, hospitals at his Burnaby plant on Tuesday, November 7, 2010. They built the main Canadian base in Afghanistan and recently got a $60-military contract to build several hundred container-type shelters that can be attached to military trucks in AfghanistanLes Bazso
/ PNG Files

Ray Castelli, CEO of Weatherhaven, a Burnaby company that produces state-of-the-art shelters primarily for the military that can be used in extreme conditions for such things as field kitchens, command centres, hospitals at his Burnaby plant on Tuesday, November 7, 2010.Les Bazso
/ PNG Files

METRO VANCOUVER — The first completed mobile shelter of 400 that will be built under a $60-million federal government defence contract rolled off the assembly line in Port Coquitlam Thursday morning, ready to be used by Canadian troops abroad.

Picture a shipping container with sides that fold down to triple the floor space, surrounded by fabric walls, complete with an on-board generator. The set up process takes just 20 minutes, and the shelters can be used for anything from kitchens to hospitals to shower rooms or gymnasiums.

In 2009, Burnaby-based Weatherhaven was contracted by the Department of National Defence to build these truck-mounted mobile shelters, which can be used by the military, for peacekeeping missions or in a disaster.

For example, if there was a plane crash in the Arctic, a container could be flown up on a C130 Hercules transport, put up in 20 minutes and a fully operational command centre could be ready to go, said Weatherhaven CEO Ray Castelli.

The shelters can be used attached or detached from the trucks, which means only one truck is required to use several shelters at the same time, Castelli said. They’re made to be moved easily and quickly, and can be transported by ship, train, truck, air transport or helicopter.

Castelli said all of the local suppliers are now part of a supply chain working under exacting military standards with potential for a large export market for the shelters.

“We expect to have a very big export market for it,” Castelli said.

The project, which will see one shelter completed every day for the next two or three years, has meant about 100 full-time jobs have been created in B.C., Castelli said, adding that the company was determined to source the parts for each $150,000 shelter entirely in B.C. In the end, 95 per cent of each container is built by the more than 47 B.C. companies that have contributed as part of the supply chain, under contract to Weatherhaven.

“Part of our business strategy, as well as one of our contractual obligations under Canada’s Industrial Regional Benefits (IRB) program, is to build and enable a local supply chain capable of doing world-class manufacturing to challenging military specifications,” Weatherhaven said.

The eight companies involved in the project from the Lower Mainland are Tri-Metal from Surrey, which builds the container shells, Wesgar from Port Coquitlam, which manufactures the sheet metal components, Wesgar Completions from Port Coquitlam, which does the painting and final assembly, Seagull from Vancouver, which supplies the wood paneling, Frontier from Delta, which manufactures the on-board generators, Analytics from Delta, which supplies the battery chargers, DNA Data Networking from Burnaby, which supplies the electrical system and Wespac from Coquitlam, with does the electrical installations.

Weatherhaven initially teamed with DEW Engineering to win the $130-million procurement program, of which $60 million will be built in B.C. The final assembly will be done at a production facility in Port Coquitlam, managed by Wesgar Completions, the company sub-contracted by Weatherhaven to do the final assembly of the unit.

“This production location is a newly established facility, designed specifically to manufacture this product to Weatherhaven and the military’s exacting standards,” said Keith Day, facility operator and Wesgar CEO. “This project proves again that world class technology is being designed and built in British Columbia, and we’re happy to be a part of that.”

The federal government says the project is part of a Department of National Defence program to replace 30-year-old technology.

“Weatherhaven and their partners have led the world in the development of this technology, and we are thrilled that we have a ‘Made in Canada’ solution to the needs of our military,” said James Moore, the federal government’s minister for British Columbia, who toured the facility Thursday.

With a file from Tiffany Crawford

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First mobile army shelter as part of $60-million contract rolls off Poco assembly line

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